MSE News: Are you a child benefit loser? Full Q&A

handsy

I've never felt the need to comment on Govt policy up to this point, but I have to say that this Child Benefit change is utterly outrageous.

George Osborne, you're telling me that a family with joint earnings of up to £99,998 p.a. (2 x £49,999 p.a.) will still get full child benefit, yet a family where there is only 1 earner of £60,000 p.a. will get nothing!?

This is wholly wrong, and reminds me of Maggie's Poll Tax shenanigans!

Please George, modify this policy to look at combined household income, not individual income.

Tell me I'm not the only person who is this upset about it?

FBaby

What I don't understand is that it is considered on individual income rather than joint, yet assessed on the basis of being a couple rather than being the parent. It's called CHILD benefit, ie. you have to be a parent to be entitled to it, yet a couple can lose out because the partner who is not the parent has an income over £60K, even though the two parents of the say child could be earning nothing. That makes no sense.

pthompson

philj22 wrote: »

I'm astounded in this age, to be asked to provide details of my wife's personal financial affairs - surely this can't be right?

The CB helpline tells me "I have to find out" whether my wife claims CB or not, what happens if she chooses to decline to share that information?

Can anyone advise me on how to proceed if I cannot provide an answer?

You'll probably need to file a Freedom of Information (FOI) request against your wife ;-)

DPD

Have received the letter this morning, it says that if you decide to stop getting child benefit then your national insurance credits will not be affected. Does this mean a non-working Mum?

DPD

handsy wrote: »

I've never felt the need to comment on Govt policy up to this point, but I have to say that this Child Benefit change is utterly outrageous.

George Osborne, you're telling me that a family with joint earnings of up to £99,998 p.a. (2 x £49,999 p.a.) will still get full child benefit, yet a family where there is only 1 earner of £60,000 p.a. will get nothing!?

This is wholly wrong, and reminds me of Maggie's Poll Tax shenanigans!

Please George, modify this policy to look at combined household income, not individual income.

Tell me I'm not the only person who is this upset about it?

I'm upset too as we are in the position that you outlined above. I even wrote to my MP for the first time ever to complain and received some claptrap about it not being fair on poorer people to provide benefits to high earners. Can we stop paying MPs for their ridiculous expenses then?:(

samdepp

Please can someone clarify exactly what I'll lose if my wife does or does not stop claiming the benefit?

Assuming I earn over £60K and that my 2 children still need food, clothes etc. If my wife stops claiming the child benefit I will need to give her £1752. That means I need to earn an addition £3.5K gross to have that much money net after tax and NI. If she doesn't stop claiming it then the government take £1752 in tax i.e. from my gross salary? Is that right? So I'll be twice as worse off if she stops it? Is that right?

JimmyTheWig

samdepp wrote: »

Please can someone clarify exactly what I'll lose if my wife does or does not stop claiming the benefit?

Assuming I earn over £60K and that my 2 children still need food, clothes etc. If my wife stops claiming the child benefit I will need to give her £1752. That means I need to earn an addition £3.5K gross to have that much money net after tax and NI. If she doesn't stop claiming it then the government take £1752 in tax i.e. from my gross salary? Is that right? So I'll be twice as worse off if she stops it? Is that right?

No, you're not comparing like with like.

If your wife stops claiming and you give her £1752 you are £1752 down.
If your wife doesn't stop claiming you will be taxed extra and will be £1752 down.
If your wife stops claiming and you give her £1752 and you want to increase your wages to cover this you will need to increase your wages by £3.5k.
If your wife doesn't stop claiming you will be taxed extra, so if you want to increase your wages to cover this extra tax you will need to increase your wages by £3.5k.

pennylikespounds

Hubby and I have spent months trying to figure out how to prevent losing the £5k a year net pay due to losing the CB. We have learnt so much about tax codes, company cars pensions that if hubby triples his monthly pension payment then we will lose nothing in the bigger picture. yes his take home pay will reduce by £200 but his pension will increase massively and significantly more.

It will only cost the government more to implement this in our household because hubby will be converting income to pension that he will gain tax relief on. .

Not only an injust policy but a crazy one too.

pennylikespounds

SamDepp yes, unfortunately you will need to earn an extra £3.5 K gross to counteract this loss.

princessdon

pennylikespounds wrote: »

Hubby and I have spent months trying to figure out how to prevent losing the £5k a year net pay due to losing the CB. We have learnt so much about tax codes, company cars pensions that if hubby triples his monthly pension payment then we will lose nothing in the bigger picture. yes his take home pay will reduce by £200 but his pension will increase massively and significantly more.

It will only cost the government more to implement this in our household because hubby will be converting income to pension that he will gain tax relief on. .

Not only an injust policy but a crazy one too.

It's crazy in the way it is implemented (ie £100K getting it and £50 K taper) but the decision is correct for most people.

Eg If I was to take advantage of the pension I'd have to give approx £2500 per month to my OH pension as my OH earns way over £50K. I also earn and at present am not a higher rate payer as reduced my hours but until recently was.

There is a reason families like mine do not NEED the CB and others do, this needs adjusted.